闻风先遁
wén​fēng​xiān​dùn

flee on news

闻 wén hear, smell Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 门 represents the sound. Simplified form of 聞.

Components

耳
耳 Meaning component
ěr ear
门
门 Sound component
mén, men door

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

风 fēng wind Simplified

Simplified form of 風. Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all
㐅
㐅 Simplified component
wǔ five

Shorthand for the 虫 component in the traditional character 風.

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 10 verified)

飘岚飙飓飕飒飚飑飖飐

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

疯讽枫砜

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

先 xiān first

Depicts a person (人) stepping forward (止) leading the way.

Components

止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot stepping forward.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 止 than it was in ancient scripts.
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

选洗宪酰诜铣跣冼筅銑兟

Meaning (1)

兟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsensˤər first
senHsˤər-s go first

說文解字

《說文》：“先，前進也。从儿，从之。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

遁 dùn hide

To escape 辶 to shelter 盾; 盾 also provides the pronunciation

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk
盾
盾 SoundMeaning component
dùn shield

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdwonXlˤu[n]ʔwithdraw
dwonHlˤu[n]ʔ-swithdraw
Zhengzhangl'uːnʔ
l'uːns
Unicodedhuə̀n
dhuə̌n

說文解字

遷也。一曰逃也。从辵盾聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

聞 wén hear, smell Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 門 represents the sound.

Components

耳
耳 Meaning component
ěr ear
門
門 Sound component
mén, men door

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjunmu[n] hear (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“聞，知聞也。从耳，門聲。，古文从昏。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

風 fēng wind Traditional

Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all
鳳
鳳 Remnant component
fèng male phoenix

Abbreviated remnant of 鳳, originally a pictograph of a mythical bird. Later reanalyzed as 虫.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 10 verified)

颼飆颱颻颶颯颭飄嵐颳

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

楓瘋諷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwngprəm wind (n.)
pjuwngHprəm-s blow; criticize

說文解字

《說文》：“風，八風也。東方曰明庶風；東南曰清明風；南方曰景風；西南曰涼風；西方曰閶闔風；西北曰不周風；北方曰廣莫風；東北曰融風。風動蟲生，故蟲八日而化。从虫，凡聲。凬，古文風。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)